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I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Before jumping into the story of this mustard, I want to share a little bit of local news. Last night we attended a food and wine event for local food bloggers at Whole Foods’ Culinary Center. Thanks to Addie Broyles at Austin360! We had a great time meeting fellow Austin bloggers and sniffing and swirling at the blind tasting. Tyson Cole from Uchi was there for a fun demo of a fried rice ball with trout which was delicious. When asked about the upcoming second location for Uchi, he spilled that it will be on Lamar near 40th street which is closer to my house than the original. I can’t wait for it to open. We had a really nice evening, and when I got home and discovered the fleur de sel caramels in the gift bag, it was icing on the cake.

Speaking of Austin, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and I’m not sure this town knows that. A few days ago, I popped into Sur la Table in need of a shamrock cookie cutter only to find nada. There was absolutely no recognition of this holiday to be found in the store. No shamrock cutters, no four leaf clovers, no leprechaun-covered serving platters or even simple, green napkins pulled front and center. Therefore, it is their fault that I am not showing shamrock-shaped, pistachio shortbread cookies today. Instead, my one and only measly creation in honor of this fine holiday is this spicy Guinness mustard which is from last month’s Saveur. There were some other great condiment recipes in that issue too. I’ll definitely try the homemade ketchup with some summer tomatoes, and the Worcestershire sauce recipe is filed away as well.

For this spicy mustard, just one bottle of Guinness is needed along with a cup and a half of brown mustard seeds which I found in the bulk section at the grocery store. Those are combined along with a cup of red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, and it was left to sit for two days. The mixture was transferred to a food processor and processed for a few minutes. A note in the recipe states that the flavor will mellow with time, and the mustard can be stored in the refrigerator for six months.

We used some right away on simple turkey sandwiches and experienced the burst of flavor that it packs. It delivers a slight wasabi-sinus-buzz effect that I quite liked. I’m hoping we can use it all before it mellows too much. It has a grainy texture, of course, and the Guinness rounds out the flavor more so than the spices which were not very noticeable. This would be a great mustard for slathering on the some meat for roasting. I’m also toying with some kind of mustard sauce idea for salmon. It’s quick and easy and very worth your time to make a batch for St. Patrick’s Day.

Hi Lisa,What a idea! Its really cool. I always prefer fresh mustard paste for I love the stong pungent taste and I use it mainly in sandwich and fish preparation but this one is really interesting. I will surely give it a try. But if you share some of your experiment that will be great.Your friend always.

I have always wanted to try using Guiness in my cooking. I would love to try your mustard guiness and see what it will taste like. I like Saveur food mag too, bought one in Florida on my way home and now it's one of my favorite food mag.